SynapsidaAfrotheriaUSNM 24477

Metaxytherium floridanum

Metaxytherium floridanum skeletal reconstruction, left lateral view, reconstructed length ~3.2 m.
Scale bar = 50 centimeters
Taxon
Metaxytherium floridanum Hay, 1922
Specimen
USNM 24477
Reconstructed length
~3.2 m (10 feet)
View
Left lateral
Drawing
© Scott Hartman
Drawn
2017, revised 2026
Clade
  1. Synapsida
  2. Therapsida
  3. Mammalia
  4. Placentalia
  5. Afrotheria

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Metaxytherium is an extinct sirenian (the group that dugongs and sea cows belong to). Likely living in groups and eating from kelp forests along the shores, Metaxytherium has been found in off-shore deposits from most continents, and as a genus survived from the Oligocene to the Late Pliocene (~26-3 million years ago).

That makes Metaxytherium a very long-lived genus for a mammal. The species shown here, M. floridanum, is known from excellent material, including type specimen USNM 24477, which is the basis of this reconstruction. M. floridanum lived from around 14-7 million years ago, and its fossils have so far been restricted to (you guessed it) Florida.